How to Save Money on Furniture

I’m finally getting around to looking for new sofas for my living room. I threw out my old ones after they became infested with bedbugs. It was awful! There were many sleepless nights. On the bright side, I learned how to get rid of bedbugs on a budget!

I will be doing a lot of research before I buy the sofas. To start I turned to Stacy Johnson from Money Talk News to learn how to score good furniture at bargain prices. Note, this video has a YouTube ad that you can easily skip if you so desire.

After my bedbug experience, I’m hesitant to go the secondhand route. I’m looking for comfortable and well built sofas that will last 5 or more years. Any suggestions?

Share any and all your furniture shopping suggestion with me in the comments! What do you consider when buying new furniture? Does price play a major factor in your decision to purchase furniture that you want to last several years?

Comments

Hey BB,
We have a new born and a three year old who are constantly crawling on our couch and other furniture. We tried to find non-toxic furniture on a budget to no avail to protect our kids and ourselves. We were concerned about the proven cancer causing flame retardants and high VOC’s that almost all couches emit. All we could find were VERY expensive couches from Cisco Bros and one or two other manufacturers. Be prepared for sticker shock if safety and health are your primary concerns. The problem with all this being healthy is it’s a super slippery slope as we’ve found out. First it’s moving for better air quality, then it’s non-toxic cleaners, then it’s a water purifier and organic foods, then it’s organic sheets and non-flame retardant infested kids clothes and it goes on and on. I know we feel like we’re on an endless treadmill trying to do the best for our kids. There always seems to be the next toxic thing we need to eliminate. Good luck.

@Aram Kadish I know! It’s a constant battle to keep our baby Lucy safe, too. I read an article somewhere (sorry, can’t recall the source) and it was about Arlene Blum’s battle to fight environmental toxins in couches and furniture. I only knew her as a pioneering mountain climber, so it took me by surprise. What I learned from the article was that the there is overwhelming resistance from the industry to reform the materials that go into couch cushions, which emit toxins. And that, as you say, the only “environmental” alternatives are very high end because it’s such a small market. We ended up buying a couch from Macy’s, so it’s not the healthiest thing in our house. Right now, we are focusing on organic food, cloth diapers, and natural cleaners. Little by little, we’re making progress.